The incredible properties of hagfish slime have fascinated scientists for decades, but researchers are only just beginning to make sense of this mucilaginous secretion. In doing so, they hope to create superfibers that could one day be used in everything from bullet-proof vests to artificial tendons.

The hagfish is an evolutionary throwback that definitely lives up to its name. When the eel-like creature finds a carcass on the seafloor, it burrows inside the dead meat and starts eating...not just with its mouth, but with its skin.